Towing not so great on F150 Lightening test

Apparently it needs a little more fire after the spark:

Ford Lightning Towing Test Shows Serious Problems (yahoo.com)

 

Wow, how surprising…

 

Boy, who could have predicted this?

Hopefully the technology keeps improving. For now, this would be absolutely useless to me.

 

Decades away.

 

Would have never believed it….

 

For electric to be practical, the batteries need to be standardized, and swappable. Then you could drive to a battery station and an attendant (or a robot) would drop the exhausted battery out of your car and replace it with a fresh one.

 

This is what I've been saying. That's how forklifts work. It takes about 5 minutes, and you're ready to go again.

 

For the probably 90% of pickup owners that never tow and only use the bed for Home Depot and dump runs a few times a year, this is still a great option.

 

Yeah I am just not willing to spend that sort of cash $$ on any of that new technology. I’ll let someone else take those risks with bigger pockets.

 

I doubt anyone buys the F150 Lightning for towing. It's more of a status symbol these days, like virtue signaling.

 

TFL tried to use a model X for towing but it failed miserable. It was a pain to set it up and then when they finally got it, the computer halved the range just by knowing it was towing.

Most EVs now especially Tesladerps.

 

Yes this is for the suit and tie crowd to get there briefcase to the office.

 

Most half tons have become substitutes for the family car or luxury vehicle, so this F-150 continues that tradition as a alternative to the Tesla.

Given the choice between this F-150 or a Tesla, I'll take the F-150.

 

As long as it doesn’t start on fire as easy as the Tesla’s

 

For around town commuting they will be fine (as long as the power grid holds up, which it probably won't). For anything else they are severely compromised. Oh, and if it's hot out be careful using the AC so you don't lose too much range. Oh, and if it's cold outside you might want to go easy with the heater. Oh, and good luck with your resale at 90-100k miles when the very expensive batteries will be approaching landfill status.

 

With some of the amenities that the truck has, for my needs, they are going in the right direction, but even if they were selling them for $15k, range, charging time, and charger locations just wouldn't work for me, and my needs are pretty basic. My wife and I typically drive 200-250 miles one way each weekend towing our kayak trailer to our fishing spots. Obviously not a ton of weight. But the way it's set up now, I might make it to my destination, then what? My other option would be to jump out of bed 60-90 minutes earlier, drive to the charging station that is closest to my destination, then take a nap while my truck is refueling. Of course then there is always the trip home to contend with too.

 

You are a better man than me Billy; no way would I adapt my sleeping schedule to plan to recharge or some type of refuel; I give you kudos though

 

I agree. And that's why it will be some time until I would make a move to an EV for anything other than my daily commute. Even then, I think my $2500 2001 Grand Marquis takes the city streets and parking lot dings better than a Tesla would.

 

I think for 90% of potential buyers, this truck will make perfect sense 90% of the time.

TFL is going to be doing a series where they drive one to Alaska, that should be interesting to see how they do.

 

I watched a video of a fella driving a Tesla to California from Florida...lots of time wasted charging, think he had to charge 2-3 times before getting out of Florida.

 

Driving to Alaska might take a month of charging time.

 

Where I work, this is the majority of pickup truck owners. "Faux redneck" is big around that area.

 

I can imagine. As a commuter, I think EVs are great. For a cross country vehicle, they're definitely not ready for primetime.

 

I said it here I think before, a coworker has a 2020 rav4 prime hybrid I believe it is and he gets to work and home without gas, and to charge the battery is less than $2 a charge at his home. 15 mile trip each way. Guess that isn’t to bad, just scary thought of a complex vehicle. Most complicated HVAC / cooling / heating system I have ever seen or Heard of!

 

Well, Toyota's been doing hybrids for about 20 years now, and I see a lot of really high mileage Priuses on Marketplace, so apparently they figured it out and their fairly durable.

Honestly, the thought has crossed my mind a few times in the last week of trading my 4R for a RAV4 hybrid. The thought has passed, because it doesn't work out dollar-wise, it would take me about 6 years if gas prices stay the same as they are now to see any return on that switch, but it was interesting idea.

What triggered it was taking my girlfriend's Hyundai Elantra on vacation last week, averaging 42 MPG and doing pretty much the whole trip on one tank of gas was really nice. We got over 400mi out of the tank before we needed to fill up, and the fill up was around 50 bucks. RAV4 hybrid gets about the same mileage, and has almost a 500 mi range with since it has a larger fuel tank.

 

That’s pretty cool to have the option of a hybrid but not needing the IC engine for daily duties. Perfect combo if you ask me. But the complexity does bother me. These things could be made as fairly simple vehicles…wish they would.

If I had one I would make sure to run the IC engine on a regular basis. I’d almost worry about reducing engine life through lack of use!

 

7mpg on the GMC. lol

 

You guys keep forgetting that:
1. It will not be a full blown replace all F150 gas with EVs.
2. Charging at home is WAY WAY WAY cheaper than gas. Given the current trend, gas aint going cheap anytime soon. For daily commuters, this is a no brainer.
3. 95% of truck owners use them as daily drivers. Better than a van when you have kids, right ? They charge at home, to never see a gas station ever again.
4. The grid will hold, chargers are being built like never before. New building codes come into place to accommodate for EVs. it is a gradual change, and it will happen as 99% of the driving is to and back from work. The times of "i need a v8 to go get groceries" is long gone and it aint coming back.
5. No v8 cant beat that instant torque.
6. Gas vehicles will be here for a long time, Would I say decades? Nah, I bet in 20 years the roads will look very different. They (gov) will make it impossible to drive one: carbon tax, gas tax, gas price, insurance price, etc, they will find all the reason in the book to ding you.
7. Wherever you like it not, IT WILL HAPPEN. There will be no gas vehicle to buy. "I will keep my truck forever" - sure you will, but the big majority will move on. You don't matter in the great play.
8. All big players are putting billions in EVs R&D. They will not give you a gas car. Hold to your trucks and SUVs on gas, this is the last generation to buy one new.
9. Biden took of the tariffs off the solar panels made in China. People will buy them more and more, it is only a matter of time. Oil is gone, fracking is gone, the only reason US is still doing coal is because of dinosaurs in the industry and political interests. Change is coming. Big time.
10. Technology is adapting and advancing fast. Next thing you know, another 200 miles of range for half the time. Don't kid yourself, as cars in the 80s went to 8mpg to today at 40 mpg and counting, it will be the same in the EV world.

 

I didn't see that. That's pretty bad. But, I guess it depends on what they're towing, and how fast.

FWIW, I drive a Silverado, V8, 4WD for work and get 18-19 hauling a gang box and some ladders.

 

If you can get past the added complexity, a plug in hybrid seems like a great option. Run on electric around town, and still be able to travel.

Agreed with @McSpazatron about making a point to run the ICE engine regularly.